1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to illuminators, and, in particular, to illuminators for vision enhancement.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditional illuminators are used for vision enhancement, e.g. vision enhancement in low light conditions. Long range illumination typically requires the use of laser emitters to project the amount of optical power required for long range imaging applications. Traditional single laser emitters tend to be non-uniform due to speckle, e.g. from constructive and destructive interference patterns caused by the narrow bandwidth of the source. A solution to this problem has been to use vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays as the primary laser emitter source for illuminators. Traditional VCSEL arrays typically consist of tens or hundreds of tightly packed laser emitters. The large number of emitters tends to improve the uniformity over traditional single laser emitters by averaging out all of the non-uniformity caused by speckle and constructive/destructive interference patterns from any single emitter in the array. Unfortunately, VCSEL arrays are not available at all wavelengths, which can limit VCSEL arrays from use in certain applications.
Such conventional methods and systems have generally been considered satisfactory for their intended purpose. However, there is still a need in the art for systems and methods that allow for improved illuminators and vision enhancement. The present invention provides a solution for these problems.